Ornamentation in the Age of Algorithms and Robotics: Can Technology Bring Back Architectural Detail?
Person working on 3D printing a column from White Tower by Studio Benjamin Dillenburger + Michael Hansmeyer. Image © Girts Apskalns
Architectural ornamentation has been a recurrent subject of debate across the industry for decades. A practice that was largely abandoned during the Modernist movement could now be standing on a platform that might, again, allow its resurgence, due to the current convergence of robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), and digital fabrication. Technology has seemingly removed the primary obstacle to decorative detail: the high cost of skilled manual labor. However, this new technical capacity demands a critical examination: What does ornamentation truly represent, and what do we gain or lose by resurrecting it through algorithmic design?
